Digital media and publishing are constantly changing. Every new media and technology released, every shift in audience trends provides new areas for connecting and monetizing audiences.
Here are the top digital media companies in San Francisco to keep an eye on.
Medium
CBS Bay Area
The Athletic
San Francisco Business Times
PopSugar, Inc.
San Francisco Examiner
The Next Platform
UroToday
SF Weekly
European Journal of Psychoanalysis
Nob Hill Gazette
Medium
Medium is an online publishing platform. It was launched by Evan Williams, Twitter co-founder and former CEO, in 2012. It is often seen as a blog host. Medium allows amateur writers and professionals, as well as publications, to publish their content. In 2017, the company introduced the option of paywalling content to make it accessible only to subscribers. According to TechCrunch, Medium has around 720,000 subscribers with the expectation to reach 1 million in 2024.
Medium attracts an average of 166.1M visitors per month, with 53.31% using desktop and 46.69% on mobile. Predominantly from United States, the site sees 71.54% organic, 20.96% direct, 3.97% social, and 3.53% other traffic.
CBS Bay Area
CBS Bay Area – or KPIX-TV (channel 5) – is a television station that serves the San Francisco Bay Area. It offers a variety of entertainment programs, as well as sports, talk and court shows, and newscasts. On the website, readers can access daily local news stories that cover sports, politics, business, weather, climate, investigations, and other themes.
CBS Bay Area attracts an average of 88.20M visitors per month, with 19.92% using desktop and 80.08% on mobile. Predominantly from United States, the site sees 46.88% organic, 40.69% direct, 8.03% social, and 4.40% other traffic.
The Athletic
The Athletic was launched in 2016. It’s a website dedicated to covering sports. In 2022, it was acquired by The New York Times and has since been integrated into The NYT’s domain. It is now officially the sports department of The NYT. In addition to the coverage it provides in 47 cities and regions in North America, The Athletic also offers coverage in the United Kingdom. It covers everything from tennis, boxing, and Formula 1 to gold, MLB, NHL, Olumpcs, La Liga, and others.
The Athletic attracts an average of 20.40M visitors per month, with 33.10% using desktop and 66.90% on mobile. Predominantly from United States, the site sees 34.23% organic, 40.82% direct, 11.12% social, and 13.83% other traffic.
San Francisco Business Times
San Francisco Business Time, a publication within The Business Journals group of news websites, is an online news publication. It covers latest breaking news, as well as stories in categories like commercial real estate, banking, technology, residential real estate, etc. Additionally, the publication puts out annual rankings – e.g., 40 Under 40, Best Places to Work, Most Influential Women – and hosts a series of events throughout the year.
San Francisco Business Times attracts an average of 8.953M visitors per month, with 41.62% using desktop and 58.38% on mobile. Predominantly from United States, the site sees 30.39% organic, 47.76% direct, 17.42% social, and 4.43% other traffic.
PopSugar, Inc.
PopSugar was established in 2006 by Brian and Lisa Sugar. Originally a pop culture blog, it has since grown into a media and technology company, with PopSugar becoming an online magazine with offices in San Francisco (HQ), Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and London. It publishes daily articles in categories like health, fitness, beauty, balance, identity, shopping, and others.
PopSugar, Inc. attracts an average of 5.260M visitors per month, with 26.97% using desktop and 73.03% on mobile. Predominantly from United States, the site sees 68.08% organic, 18.30% direct, 10.45% social, and 3.17% other traffic.
San Francisco Examiner
Published since 1863, the San Francisco Examiner is a broadsheet-format newspaper and new website. It caters to readers in the San Francisco area and those interested in local news. The San Francisco Examiner covers politics, technology, climate, housing, transit, education, culture, and sports. It also publishes obituaries and a list of local events – e.g., festivals, live music, arts, attractions, etc.
San Francisco Examiner attracts an average of 257,956 visitors per month, with 36.09% using desktop and 63.91% on mobile. Predominantly from United States, the site sees 43.17% organic, 40.29% direct, 11.30% social, and 5.24% other traffic.
The Next Platform
The Next Platform is a digital publication focused on technology, specifically high-end computing at large enterprises, public clouds, supercomputing centers, and hyperscale data centers. It was launched in 2015. It publishes news and in-depth pieces in categories such as compute, AI, HPC, code, control, cloud, edge, etc.
The Next Platform attracts an average of 226,034 visitors per month, with 38.26% using desktop and 61.74% on mobile. Predominantly from United States, the site sees 51.68% organic, 34.52% direct, 6.10% social, and 7.70% other traffic.
UroToday
Headquartered in San Francisco, UroTOday is a news and education website with a reach of over 500,000 urologists and healthcare professionals around the world. It was establiehd in 2003. The content it offers is free. It publishes pieces in categories such as transformative evidence, trials in progress, clinical trials, as well as conference coverage.
UroToday attracts an average of 130,564 visitors per month, with 35.74% using desktop and 64.26% on mobile. Predominantly from United States, the site sees 69.36% organic, 24.00% direct, 3.78% social, and 2.86% other traffic.
SF Weekly
Founded in mid-1970s, SF Weekly used to be an alternative weekly newspaper. In 2021, it ceased its print publication and is now an online music publication. SF Weekly publishes arts and entertainment news, including a calendar of local events, local, regional, and national news, and various columns and features pieces centered around music – its main focus. Among many national awards and accolades, SF Weekly has won 1st place in Investigating Reporting from the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies.
SF Weekly attracts an average of 84,608 visitors per month, with 31.34% using desktop and 68.66% on mobile. Predominantly from United States, the site sees 64.41% organic, 23.40% direct, 7.83% social, and 4.36% other traffic.
European Journal of Psychoanalysis
Founded in 1995 by Sergio Benvenuto, the European Journal of Psychoanalysis is an independent peer-reviewed journal “dedicated to advancing a global encounter with contemporary themes animating European psychoanalytic discourse”. Articles are made available on the website for users to read directly or download as PDFs.
European Journal of Psychoanalysis attracts an average of 31,943 visitors per month, with 23.22% using desktop and 76.78% on mobile. Predominantly from United States, the site sees 82.70% organic, 13.56% direct, 1.28% social, and 2.46% other traffic.
Nob Hill Gazette
Established in 1978 by Gardner Mein, the Nob Hill Gazette is a monthly luxury lifestyle magazine. Print copies of the magazine are delivered to such neighborhoods as Pacific Heights, Nob Hill, the Marina, and other exclusive areas. On the website, users can access daily pieces in categories like fashion, health, real estate, food, beauty, travel, and others.
Nob Hill Gazette attracts an average of 13,097 visitors per month, with 43.74% using desktop and 56.26% on mobile. Predominantly from United States, the site sees 56.89% organic, 30.23% direct, 8.59% social, and 4.29% other traffic.